Lauren Fischer Wellness Coach

Author: laurenfschr

This past weekend I taught my 3, almost 4, year old niece to say, “trick-or-treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat.” She delightedly repeated it over and over while sticking her little toes in my face. While my niece and I giggled, my sister, her Mom, tried to remind my niece that asking people to smell your feet is not good manners. Hopefully, little niece sticks with the polite “trick-or-treat” followed by a “thank you” when a kind stranger gives her a piece of candy.

I’m pretty sure I was just fulfilling the part of the aunt job description that says something like, instill your impressionable niece or nephew with the knowledge of all things silly, useless, obnoxious and occasionally mildly inappropriate.

The trick-or-treating talk made me think about how much candy that little one will get this Halloween. I’m not trying to rob children of the tradition of raking in a full king size pillowcase of Halloween candy, but trick-or treating is not the one and only celebration for most kids. There’s the school party, the church party, the trunk or treat, the neighborhood block party…you get my point. It adds up to a lot of sugar and not so healthy ingredients like high fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated oils in a short period of time.

Instead of giving in to a candy crazy week, prioritize the treats that make Halloween special for your family and enjoy those whether they are healthy or not. In my family, it’s not Halloween without a graveyard which is a giant dirt pudding topped with crushed Oreos for dirt, Milano cookies for headstones and lots of gummy worms and harvest mix marshmallow pumpkins. So not healthy, but nostalgic and so good!

Substitute quality-ingredient sweets or non-food treats in between those super special goodies to keep your little (or big) one healthier this Halloween.

Homemade gelatin gummies – a quick Google or Pinterest search will give you hundreds of recipes to choose from.

Candy with quality ingredients meaning no high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils, MSG or numbered dyes. YumEarth is one clean brand that offers a variety of products including lollipops and gummy worms.

Let us know your healthy(er) Halloween treat ideas in the comments!

I am not affiliated with the companies of any of the products I recommended or linked to in this post.

Like this:

For years of my life I saw food as numbers – the number of meals, the number of snacks, the number of calories, the percentage of carbs, fat and protein. My brain was a database of portion sizes, calories and macros. I could estimate the calorie content and macros of an entire menu in under 5 minutes. I learned this information to make myself healthier but in the end all this mental math landed me in a confused and unhealthy place. The focus on numbers replaced all other ideas about food.

Do you think your great-grandmother counted calories? What about her great-grandmother? Hell no. You know what they cared about? What their brains were busy thinking about as they fed their families? Nutrients! Nourishment! Robust health!

It’s not the calories but the quality of the calories that matters. One hundred calories of Cheetos is not the same as 100 calories of avocado. Foods devoid of nutrients and high in calories are in large part to blame for the obesity epidemic. How many Snackwells star-shaped cinnamon cookies could you eat back in the day? Don’t lie…you know the answer is the whole box. You know why? Zero nutrients means zero nourishment and zero satiation. You need fat-soluble vitamins, water-soluble vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, phytonutrients, fiber, carbohydrates, fats, and proteins to feel satisfied, to feel energized and to supply your body with the building blocks for growth and repair.

Let’s shift our focus from numbers to nutrients. Nutrient-dense foods are unprocessed, unaltered, whole foods that your great-grandmother and her great-grandmother would recognize as food. This includes pastured meats and eggs, grass-fed dairy, fruits, vegetables, nut, seeds, legumes and whole grains. Food quality plays a huge role in nutrient-density as well. Learn more about food quality here.

Aim to fill the majority of your snacks and meals with foods that naturally contain a wide variety of nutrients. Then, forget about the numbers and take the time to really enjoy (and chew) the food in front of you.

Like this:

My husband and I escaped on a little vacay to Jamaica in April and It. Was. Amazing!

We planned this vacation back in February and knew we wanted to have a relaxing beach vacation. Our last vacation included a 14 hour flight so our only criteria was a short flight. Ultimately, we decided on Jamaica because my sister and brother-in-law have been talking about how amazing it is since they went on their honeymoon 6 ½ years ago AND the flight is only an hour and 40 minutes.

Like this:

May means summer is just around the corner and for many that means summer vacations. Yay!! Getting in a workout while on vacation is often a goal but not always a reality. For the next few weeks I will be posting vacation friendly workouts meaning zero equipment and super efficient and effective!

Like this:

I am a little behind on posts this week so I thought I would combine an awesome workout with Food Log Friday.

I’ll be honest with you. I am a little behind because I had way too much fun at a local food and wine festival last Sunday. There were hundreds, freakin’ hundreds, of wines and champagnes to taste as well as beer and bourbon. I really went for it and probably tried 99 wines/champagnes and some bourbon for good measure. It was an epic Sunday Funday followed by an epic three day hangover.

Like this:

Now that the weather is getting warmer, I find myself craving smoothies. Smoothies are considered a “health” food but with the wrong ingredients your smoothie may be as healthy as a Butterfinger Blizzard.

There is a vast nutritional difference between a smoothie made with sugar-filled ingredients like fruit juices, yogurts and agave and a smoothie made with frozen berries, spinach, collagen, avocado and water.

Like this:

Posts navigation

About Me

Hi, there! I’m Lauren Fischer a nurse and Nutrition Therapy Consultant living in Lakewood Ranch, FL. Building health and wellness is a journey that will allow you to live your life without boundaries but it requires dedicated action. My goal is for Action Wellness to serve as a source of information and inspiration for me and you along the way. I will post workouts, simple recipes, all things nutrition and probably lots of pictures of my crazy dog!

Don't miss any of the action!

Enter your email address to follow Action Wellness and receive notifications of new posts by email.